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How To: Slark, the Nightcrawler

INTRODUCTION

______________________________________________________________________________________________In the deepest, blackest pits of the ocean a fearsome and terrifying creature lurks. Bending the shadows to his will, few have seen his true form and none have lived to speak of it. For the shadows are his sanctuary, a place of empowerment and revitalisation. Bathed in this inpenetrable darkness he strikes unseen, every attack making him swifter and more powerful whilst weakening his enemy. An unbreakable leash awaits all who try to escape, leaving them at mercy of this horrifying phantom. By sacrificing a fraction of his soul, his pact with darkness allows him break even the most powerful bonds and curses. With echoes of the Great War reaching every corner of the earth, this creature, known only as Slark, has emerged from the depths to search for an ancient relic...
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Slark is adept in the art of assasination. He is the definition of glass cannon, utilizing unconventional tools to produce a reliable stream of ganks. Should you be stray of your lane, be wary of a pouncing from the Nightcrawler, for it spells death for you; his prey.

PURP - Q, your first ability.LIME - W, your second ability.BLUE - E, your third ability.PINK - R, your ultimate.
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The below content is appropriately color coded to the above key. All of the following information, with the exception of the actual [ RUNES ] or the [ PLEASE READ ], initially correspond with their description accordingly. If something is not understood fully regarding the color code, please comment with your question / issue.

ROLE and POSITION

ROLE:

Nightcrawler: GANKER

Slark is revered as the ultimate in hit and run tactics. His kit accentuates him to be an exceptionally filthy GANKER, an adequate late game SEMI-CARRY, and in some cases a CARRY. The Nightcrawler is an oddball in the terms of ganking, and very inflexible in build and playstyle, with that being said he is a very niche hero, and fills the role to the potential.

POSITION:

Assuming you bought your starting equipment as suggested and are wondering what to do now, you might want to consider your lane or jungle position; for the purpose of this guide you will head to a SOLO or DUO lane. Slark is most compatible in the SAFE lane to have that early access to the side shop. You may take the MID according to picks. Generally a TRI lane is a risky investment as he'd be your main carry if you followed this route.

BOTTLE and RUNES

Bottle: A bottle should be PICKED UP you plan on taking it solo to the MID lane; in which you should try to have full control of runes as you should with any solo mid hero with a bottle. Try to have a caster with a summon to scout runes out for you.

Illusion: You do not benefit much from this rune, this should only be PICKED UP in special cases.

Double Damage: This should be picked up EARLY and MID game, and avoided LATE game.

Invisibility: Generally not needed, but for a sure gank you may PICK UP.

Regeneration: SITUATIONAL, for the most part you will pick this up if no one needs it anymore than you do.

Haste: Use your better judgment, this will be PICKED UP to catch up to the pack or escape.

The first ingredient to making 'Slark and Chips' is VISION, as an assassin you revel in stealth. More importantly though, shutting down a Nightcrawler requires you to take his food away, in this sense any IMAGE hero can easily void you.

PLEASE READ

These guides are somewhat time consuming to produce, and most of them do lack some at the moment, but for the most part I believe they provide enough information to play properly with the given hero. Even though the guide is still UNFINISHED, I still need feedback on how to better it. The item build and such is always up for change, and your opinion is wanted as long as it's not something that smashes the entire guide because you don't like a little detail. Please keep in mind: if you have the time to read this guide and vote on it then you should have a sufficient amount of time to comment what pleased or displeased you.

TLDR:Please take the time to provide feedback.What can I change? What areas need improvement? Is the guide visually unappealing?

Pounce is taken at level 1 for escape purposes. Don't let the small distance fool you - you can e.g. dodge being trapped by an Earthshaker's fissure.
Dark Pact is maxed first due to the fact that your priority is getting your offensive potential up as quickly as possible.
One level of essence shift is required for early-mid game ganks. Any more is not needed until later due to the 15 second duration being enough. If you find your lane to lack disables and you got the proper environment to be aggressive, feel free to get Shift first.
Pounce is maxed second because of the range bonus is required to adjust to enemies speeding up.
Essence Shift is naturally maxed last and Shadow Dance is taken when necessary due to its usefulness.
For a more defensive build, max Pounce first with only one level of Dark pact at level 4. For an offensive build, max Essence shift first with only one level of pounce and dark pact early. This build is highly efficient against melee/short range lanes as well, because the essence shift provides you a means of harassment and lane control, while dark pact is not so efficient.

For the items, no diffusal blade? You either get S&Y or Diffu.

Thats it XD. I still gave you a +1 because I like how it looks simple and it's not a rubbish guide with bad info, it's pretty decent, and I like it. Good job.

Pounce is taken at level 1 for escape purposes. Don't let the small distance fool you - you can e.g. dodge being trapped by an Earthshaker's fissure.
Dark Pact is maxed first due to the fact that your priority is getting your offensive potential up as quickly as possible.
One level of essence shift is required for early-mid game ganks. Any more is not needed until later due to the 15 second duration being enough. If you find your lane to lack disables and you got the proper environment to be aggressive, feel free to get Shift first.
Pounce is maxed second because of the range bonus is required to adjust to enemies speeding up.
Essence Shift is naturally maxed last and Shadow Dance is taken when necessary due to its usefulness.
For a more defensive build, max Pounce first with only one level of Dark pact at level 4. For an offensive build, max Essence shift first with only one level of pounce and dark pact early. This build is highly efficient against melee/short range lanes as well, because the essence shift provides you a means of harassment and lane control, while dark pact is not so efficient.

For the items, no diffusal blade? You either get S&Y or Diffu.

Thats it XD. I still gave you a +1 because I like how it looks simple and it's not a rubbish guide with bad info, it's pretty decent, and I like it. Good job.